Causes of Liver Shunt in Dogsand Microvascular Dysplasia

I know that there is a lot of information written about liver shunts. You can Google the words and find many pages that will explain to you what congenital and acquired liver shunts are, the symptoms associated with this condition and traditional treatment. This is why I am not going to write about these topics on this website. You may not have time for all that. What you will read on this website is information that is not found anywhere else: Causes of acquired and congenital liver shunts.

Not too many websites about liver shunts will discuss the subject of why dogs develop liver shunts. However, on this page you are going to read about the causes of congenital and acquired liver shunts based on our experience working with liver shunt dogs for the last 20 years. If this information makes sense to you, then you will want to continue to read the rest of the pages on this website because based on the suggested causes of congenital and acquired liver shunts, our suggested natural solutions will make even more sense to you and you’ll probably want to give these solutions a try.

The following is my opinion only, based on what I have read and my experience helping many, many dogs.

The material on this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only and must not be taken as “medical advice”.

The information and directions in these writings and subsequent emails, individually and collectively, are in no way to be considered as a substitute for consultations with a duly licensed Veterinarian regarding diagnosis and/or treatment of disease and are not intended to diagnose or treat your dog.

Please consult with your Veterinarian for this advice as well as for any Medical Emergency.

Congenital liver shunts - liver shunt(s) that a puppy is born with - have a similar cause to acquired liver shunts based on the nutrition of the parents, grandparents and previous generations. Much focus has been placed on finding a genetic cause for congenital shunts, and breeders would like to think that the cause is all due to genetics. To date there has not been a single study that has shown a genetic link to liver shunts in dogs to my knowledge. In my opinion, that's because there is none, despite the fact that many people want there to be. A weak genetic link would be an easier answer to accept and deal with. But when each generation of dogs has more and more liver shunt problems, the causes point to what we talk about below, and nutrition playing a leading role.

Here is the short version of why your dog has a liver shunt - the long version is presented below: The body does nothing by accident.The acquired liver shunt(s) does not grow for no apparent reason. The body does not say "Gosh, I think I will grow an extra hepatic blood vessel today." No - The liver shunt grows because the body is trying to keep your dog alive!

If the liver health is poor, then it gets clogged and blood has trouble flowing through it. This causes the blood pressure in the blood vessels supplying the liver with blood to reach dangerous - even life threatening levels. The body then grows a liver shunt (or multiple shunts or microvascular shunts) to BYPASS the liver. This relieves the dangerous blood pressure that has built up in the blood vessels supplying the liver with blood due to the clogged liver. The liver shunt is an emergency measure that the body is using under duress. If it didn't happen your dog would likely be dead.

Now, this does create other problems because the blood that is being diverted around the unhealthy liver is not getting filtered of toxins and wastes. This is one of the main functions of the liver. So your dog has an overly toxic system that can create a host of problems. But the body ALWAYS takes care of the most pressing problem first - thus keeping itself alive - and leaves other things, like too many toxins and wastes in the bloodstream, to be dealt with as it can. But if these secondary problems become too great, then your dog will die as well. That is why it is critical to improve the liver's ability to function as much as possible.

With a puppy born with a congenital shunt it is much the same. The liver shunt is present in ALL developing normal fetus'. At birth if the liver health is fine, the body closes off the shunt because it is no longer needed. If the liver health is poor due to poor nutrition of the mother (primarily) then the liver shunt does NOT close off as it should and stays open because it is needed.

Your vet looks at it completely different. They view the liver shunt as the CAUSE of your dog's problems. They think that the liver shunt is allowing toxins and wastes to bypass the liver without being filtered out, thus creating health problems and poor liver health. These toxins and wastes ARE creating health problems, but closing off the liver shunt WITHOUT restoring the health of the liver to full function is treating the symptom and not the problem. The liver shunt is merely a more serious symptom of the poor liver health. Close it off with surgery and you are going against what the body is trying to do. In fact, the reoccurrence rate for the regrowth of a liver shunt in dogs that have had surgery is 40 - 50%. Sometimes in as little as six months.

The standard veterinary thinking is that by closing off the liver shunt, more blood will be forced back into the unhealthy liver. The dog's liver is then supposed to magically adjust to this increased blood flow and become healthy. A dog CAN seemingly improve temporarily with this surgical approach. But if steps are not taken to improve the health of the liver, then problems will return. In fact, the body may regrow more liver shunts in as little as six months time and then you are back to square one and stuck with a vet bill in the multiple thousands of dollars.

Plus, think about this for a minute. Most vets won't use anesthesia to spay or neuter, clean teeth or operate on a dog with poor liver health. The use of anesthesia in these cases is too dangerous. But these vets see no problem using a tremendous amount of anesthesia to cut open your dog for major liver shunt surgery. Does this make any sense to you? Some dogs don't even survive the surgery and die on the operating table.

Thankfully, there is a much better way. The solution is to improve the functioning ability of the liver and restore the proper blood flow through it. This is done by supplying the body with the nutrients it needs to heal and regenerate. But it is an approach your vet likely has no experience with. When the only tools in your vet's "toolbox" are drugs and surgery, then better nutrition may not be looked at as a better option. Click here for an article on why your vet may not be able help you with what to feed your dog.

OK, here is the longer answer for those that want it - but if I were you I'd stop wasting time and contact me for help:

What is wrong with standard treatment?

Veterinarians' focus of
treatment for the initial symptoms of liver shunt and MVD is through a low animal protein
diet and the use of antibiotics and other drugs and supplements. Commercial prescription dog food formulas are given to reduce the amount of animal protein in the diet and thus ammonia in the body. However, we know from experience that this kind of diet as a treatment
helps to perpetuate the problem, NOT solve it. It may take away the symptoms your dog is having, but the lack of symptoms is NOT true health and this approach will NOT promote true healing of the liver. Furthermore, your vet will think that a liver shunt is the CAUSE of your dog's symptoms. You will see below, that a liver shunt is not the cause of your dog's symptoms but merely a more serious symptom itself of poor liver health. So the traditional treatment for liver shunt or MVD is not getting to the root cause of your dog's problems. In fact, this treatment may just be masking the symptoms while at the same time making the underlying problem worse.

Let's get to the real cause of Dog Liver Shunt and MVD

Granted that too much ammonia in the body is blamed by veterinarians for being the main cause of liver shunts and MVD symptoms, but the real questions should be these – “Why is this ammonia not being dealt with in the body?” and “What is causing the liver's poor health that then causes these liver shunts or microshunts to form?The answers lie in your dog's digestive tract. Your vet will look here to kill any bacteria that may be producing any excess ammonia, but this is the wrong approach that only adds to the problem

The digestive tract is your dog's first line of defense. The liver is your dog's second line of defense.

The small intestine serves as the first line of the body’s defense against
germs, harmful foods and toxins. The liver is the body’s master chemist,
also the fuel storage, house keeper, and poison control center. The liver
stores the most important alkaline elements in the dog’s body and as a result, the liver is the body’s second line of defense.

The liver is responsible for many important functions including the removal of
by-products from the digestion of food, the absorption of food and the
production of proteins necessary for normal blood consistency and clotting as
well as other key functions involved in metabolism.

Dr. Henry Bieler, M.D., and most all Functional Medicine doctors believe that liver health is dependent on gut health.
Therefore, the beginning of liver dysfunction starts with gut dysfunction. If
the first line of defense which is the small intestine is not working properly,
then the second line of defense, which is the liver, will carry its burden for
digesting foods. The stress on the liver eventually will take a negative
toll on the liver’s daily function especially its detoxification job.
The liver will fail to filter blood and toxic material will enter the general
circulation. The liver will fail to remove the normal by-products from
digested and absorbed food from the circulation (i. e. ammonia). Therefore, these by-products
remain in the circulation and can lead to metabolic and clinical abnormalities.
This is when you start noticing the many well known and written about
symptoms of acquired liver shunts.

So
what causes gut dysfunction leading to liver dysfunction?

Based on our experience in working with
congenital and acquired liver shunt dogs for many years, we find that all of
these dogs that suffer from gut dysfunction show symptoms of frequent bacterial
infections (proliferation of harmful bacteria or candida) leading to
frequent urinary tract infection, bad mouth odor and/or bad urine odor (strong
ammonia smell), bloated stomach, less than normal weight (nutrient
deficiencies), lack of energy, hacking, vomiting and diarrhea or constipation.

When gut dysfunction is addressed naturally through a change of diet and the
intake of whole food supplements, dogs with congenital and acquired liver
shunts will no longer exhibit any negative symptoms and can end up leading a
normal and long life.

What is wrong with my dog's diet?

There
are many reasons that can lead to a dysfunctional gastrointestinal tract in
dogs, but the main reason is commercially prepared
canned or dry dog foods. Such a diet, including organic brands
and the so called ‘balanced’ and quality canned and dry dog foods, have many
preservatives, artificial ingredients, inorganic vitamins and minerals that
don’t even come close to resembling what real minerals and vitamins in real
foods look like chemically. Here is a question to ask yourself - "what would my own health be like if this food was all
I ate 7 days a week for months and years on end?"These diets lack enzymes or any raw nutrition. (Email usto ask for
expanded articles on why the minerals and vitamins in dogs commercially
prepared canned and dry foods can not be utilized by the body and in fact
become a source of stress to the liver and kidneys). But the worst thing
in these commercial diets that greatly harms a dog’s digestive system is that these canned and dry foods are 100% acidic
which means they lack organic minerals. Granted, these food labels list many minerals in their ingredients, but such minerals are inorganic and the dog’s body cannot utilize them. They look great on the nutrient profile label, but these inorganic minerals and synthetic nutrients are not doing your dog any good. Therefore, such commercially prepared diets will putrify, ferment and go rancid and start
to trigger inflammation in the gut lining leading to a leaky gut.

How can gut dysfunction lead to the formation of liver shunts in dogs and lead to deterioration of congenital liver shunt conditions?

The intestine in a dog’s body serves as the first line of defense against germs, harmful foods and toxins. You may have heard the phrase, “If the gut is not healthy, neither is the rest of the body.” Basically, the intestine:

1) digests foods,2) absorbs small food particles to be converted into energy,3) carries nutrients like vitamins and minerals attached to carrier proteins across the gut lining into the bloodstream,4) contains a major part of the chemical detoxification system of the body, and5) contains antibodies that act as the first line of defense against infection.

How does the gut become leaky?

Once the gut lining become inflamed or damaged, then this impairs the above listed five functions of the gastrointestinal tract. A dog eats commercially prepared dry kibbles, or wet foods that lack enzymes and friendly bacteria and have no minerals and ends up not being able to digest the food well, and before it’s completely digested, large food particles will be absorbed into the blood. The body’s immune system will attack such food antigens as foreign, toxic particles and produce antibodies against once harmless particles of foods

Once you have antibodies to foods, they can do many things, like go to the lungs leading to allergies (almost all liver shunt dogs have allergies). These toxins will eventually get to the liver causing vomiting, diarrhea, hacking and bloating.

When the bowel lining is damaged through inflammation, minerals and vitamins cannot be absorbed, so now the dog is vulnerable to developing mineral and vitamin deficiencies. Dogs will exhibit abnormal weight loss, lack energy and an inability to gain weight.

Here’s a summary of the results of inflammation of the gut: 1) When the gut is inflamed it does not absorb nutrients and foods properly and so dogs become fatigued and bloating can occur; 2) when large food particles are absorbed into the blood before they are digested, there is the creation of allergies and symptoms like head shaking, rubbing and sneezing because the sinus is full of mucous; 3) when the gut is inflamed, the carrier proteins are damaged so nutrient deficiencies occur which can cause any symptoms like magnesium deficiency-induced muscle spasm; 4) Likewise, when the detox pathways that line the gut are compromised, leakage of toxins overburdens the liver so that the body is less able to handle everyday chemicals; 5) When the gut is inflamed the body is not able to ward off infection and becomes more vulnerable to bacteria, viruses and yeast, like candida; (See article on Candidiasis here)6) When the intestinal lining is inflamed, bacteria and yeast, of which there are hundreds of species in the intestine, are able to translocate. In other words, they are able to pass from the gut into the bloodstream and set up infection anywhere in the body

How can a leaky gut lead to the growth of new liver shunts?

Ammonia molecule

In healthy dogs, food is broken down, processed and digested in the intestines and absorbed into the blood stream, where it is transmitted to the liver and other organs. The liver then processes the food that it receives into proteins and chemicals. In this process, the liver gets rid of the toxins and foreign substances that the dog might have ingested.

When dogs eat commercial foods that have no enzymes, no friendly bacteria and no organic minerals, such foods ferment, putrefy and go rancid inside the body where they are not broken down properly, leading to a leaky gut. Such toxic food particles leak from the gut into the blood and the toxins are carried to the liver. These toxic food particles are very acidic and in order for the liver to buffer such acidity it will use ammonia. Ammonia as a neutralizer is an emergency backup system. Ammonia is more highly alkaline than minerals. It has a pH of about 9.25. Does your dog’s urine smell like ammonia? Does your dog’s urine burn the grass when she/he pees? All of these symptoms indicate ammonia in the urine because the liver is using ammonia to buffer the acidity coming from undigested toxic food waste.

So we have a strong acid toxic food waste that the liver needs to eliminate and it has two methods for neutralizing such toxins: (1) it will use the mineral reserve it has stored in the body, which is mostly sodium, and when it is all used up, then it will use (2) the emergency backup, ammonia. This will cause the development of single or multiple shunting blood vessels to relieve high blood pressure on the liver. The body does nothing by accident.The liver shunt(s) does not grow for no apparent reason. The body does not say "Gosh, I think I will grow an extra hepatic blood vessel today." NO - The liver shunt grows because the body is trying to keep your dog alive! The body grows them to relieve the dangerous blood pressure that has built up because the flow of blood through the liver is greatly reduced. The liver shunt is an emergency measure that the body is using under duress. If it didn't happen your dog would likely be dead.

Why my vets approach work may not work

Traditional treatment for suspected or diagnosed liver shunt is to put dog’s on a prescription diet that is lower in animal protein, plus use antibiotics like Metronidazole and Amoxicillin. Additional supplements like Lactulose and Denamarin are common. The conventional thinking is that the lower animal protein and antibiotics will mean less ammonia, thus fewer symptoms until surgery can be performed. This thinking may add to the underlying problem which is the leaky gut permeability, thus leaking undigested food into the bloodstream that is sent to the liver to be processed. This overburdens the liver and reduces blood flow through it. The highly acidic nature of the commercial food compounds the problem, as does the use of toxic drugs and supplements that the liver has to deal with further. This is no formula for healing and regenerating the liver.

Please consult your veterinarian for advice on the use of any prescription medications

I believe that the prescription diet should not be used at all and will contribute further to the underlying problem of a leaky gut and an overburdened liver. Please consult with your Veterinarian about this. Antibiotics destroy friendly bacteria, thus compounding the problem and making it worse. A change in diet to a balanced acid/alkaline whole food diet along with whole food supplements is necessary to heal the digestive tract and take the burden off of the liver. Furthermore, as many toxins as possible must be eliminated from being ingested (medications, vaccinations, synthetic vitamins/minerals, tap water etc) Only in this way will your dog maybe say goodbye to liver problems FOREVER.

To Summarize the main causes of Liver Shunts and Microvascular Dysplasia

95% of the dogs I have consulted with havingcongenital liver shunt and acquired liver shunt were fed commercially prepared diets of either canned or dry foods.

5% of the dogs that have poor liver health are eating a diet of nearly 100% raw meat. This is also an improper diet in our opinion as meat breaks down into ammonia in the body and puts a tremendous strain on the liver and intestinal tract.

As a result of an improper diet that does not get digested well, increased intestinal permeability or leaky gut syndrome will result. This will lead not only to increased absorption of xenobiotics, but also in the increased absorption of endogenously produced toxins (endotoxins), antigens, immune complexes and intact microorganisms normally confined to the intestinal system. It is by this mechanism that chronic permeability defects have been shown to contribute to the development of liver dysfunction.

Under normal conditions, intestinal endotoxins and xenobiotics absorbed from the gut are principally detoxified by the liver. Liver detoxification pathways transform toxic molecules into less toxic metabolites which can then be excreted. The liver's capacity to handle detox functions can be impaired due to excessive exposure to toxins and high acidic toxic waste as well as deficiencies in key nutrients. Ammonia is the liver’s final attempt using an emergency system to keep going. This will cause the development of multiple shunting blood vessels to relieve high blood pressure on the liver.

Traditional veterinary treatment may only treat the symptoms caused by the poorly functioning liver. Prescription dog foods only compound the problem and create other problems. Antibiotics kill friendly bacteria and may further contribute to leaky gut permeability. Expensive and traumatic surgery to close a shunt may only be treating a symptom. Thus, with or without surgery, your dog and your vet may continue to see a lot of each other in the years ahead. Only in getting to the underlying cause of the problem with a proper diet and whole food nutrients will you likely be able to say goodbye to a poorly functioning liver – and perhaps your high vet bills – once and for all. Click here to get started.

The material on this site is provided for educational and informational purposes only and must not be taken as “medical advice”.

The information and directions in these writings and subsequent emails, individually and collectively, are in no way to be considered as a substitute for consultations with a duly licensed Veterinarian regarding diagnosis and/or treatment of disease and are not intended to diagnose or treat your dog.

Please consult with your Veterinarian for this advice as well as for any Medical Emergency.